France's First Lady on Film

By Pamela Grace Lim

photo credit: http://friller.com

The French supermodel-turned-singer Carla Bruni is the first lady of France. And what better way to tell the world about her life, career and marriage than through an 80-minute documentary film? The result: "Somebody Told Me About... Carla Bruni" (2009), which was shown on French television early this year--right on New Year's Day.



Filmmaker George Scott started out with a proposal to make a music film about the model-turned-signer. At first, Bruni, 41, doubted if her life was interesting enough, saying, "you don't have much to work on with me," but agreed to do the film anyway.



A month later, she became one of the most talked-about women in the world. The reason? Her public affair with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.



After this revelation, Scott thought Bruni would no longer pursue the film--but she did. Scott was given a pass to follow Bruni around the presidential Elysée Palace, as well as her Paris and Riviera homes, for a first glimpse of the life of the first lady, now famously known as Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. The couple formally tied the knot in February 2008.

photo credit: http://layoder.files.wordpress.com

The documentary film covered interviews, recordings and revelations about the romance and marriage of Bruni-Sarkozy. She openly shared how she told Sarkozy that she will not give up her music career just because she is going to be the wife of a president. One of the highlights of the film was when Sarkozy made a surprise visit while she was set to record her new album. The cameras caught Sarkozy shaking hands with the whole French crew, kissing his wife, and smiling so broadly as he watched her sing. Scott observed that the president was obviously very much in love.



Bruni-Sarkozy also gave Scott access to her family and friends, providing a deeper look into her background and personality.



Carla Gilberta Bruni Tedeschi was born in Turin, Italy on December 23, 1967 to mother Marisa Borini, a concert pianist, and stepfather Alberto Bruni Tedeschi, a composer and owner of a tire manufacturing company, CEAT. In the 1970s, her family moved to France due to kidnap threats from terrorists. Bruni began her modeling career in her teenage years, and by the '90s, became one of the world's highest paid models. She modeled for French brands Chanel and Christian Dior, and made it to the cover of about 250 magazines. On top of that, she can speak Italian, French and English fluently.

photo credit: http://elobservador.rctv.net

In the late '90s, the then-29-year-old Bruni decided to leave the fashion world, and entered a new career as a singer-songwriter. Her first album, titled "Quelqu'un m'a dit (Someone Told Me)" was released in 2002. It was followed by her second album, "No Promises," in January 2007.



Bruni-Sarkozy also said that she was timid when she was young, the opposite of what she has become. “Perhaps you unconsciously seek out what is most difficult, or perhaps contradiction is really important in a human being,” she said.



Scott also got another exclusive look at the presidential couple's vacation when he visited Bruni-Sarkozy's family mansion in August at Cap Nègre. The film also features the state visit to London where Bruni-Sarkozy paid a warm tribute to the Royal family. It also tackled the controversies she got involved in, including the publication in British newspapers of a nude photograph taken during her modeling days. She confidently stated that she is not ashamed of anything she has done: "Other models posed nude but none of them married a president."



As the first lady, Bruni-Sarkozy says she wants to send the message that she is serious about her responsibilities, and as a singer, she wishes to continue writing new songs for other people and continue to perform live, even when her husband is no longer president.

In the Spotlight: Nicolas Sarkozy

By Justine Lourdes Labucay

photo credit: www.liberation.fr

Meet France's number one man: Nicolas Sarkozy. Since assuming presidency in May 2007, he has captured the world's full attention with his bold political positions on immigration and foreign policy, and his very public love life. Once described as "a human dynamo who left his opponents trailing and exhausted in his wake," Mr. Sarkozy is a Frenchman on top of his game.



Sarkozy was born in Paris in 1955 to a French mother and a Hungarian immigrant father and was raised in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, where he would later become town councilor and mayor.



Nicolas Sarkozy is a president of France set apart from his predecessors by the people themselves. In a recent article in The New York Times, Parisian psychiatrist Serge Hefez asserted that the French are inflicted with what he calls "Obsessive Sarkosis," an "unhealthy fascination with Nicolas Sarkozy." It seems that the French have developed a feeling of attachment to their president, and even identify with him through his exhibitions of typical human attributes, one of which is his having been divorced twice. While this comes across as an "upside," it also appears to be working the other way around.



This "self-identification" many maintain with Sarkozy could be the same reason others are repulsed by him. And with such polarization in the political backdrop, Sarkozy has been labeled a divisive figure for France. His approach is plainspoken and direct when carrying out policies -- often a cause for controversy and riot among demonstrators -- but he still gets your attention and gets things done.



He was recently included in Time Magazine's runners-up for Person of the Year 2008, where Tony Blair characterized him as having "the hallmark of any true leader: a capacity to take decisions and implement them." Sarkozy implemented strict measures to control illegal immigration in France and backed programs aiming to integrate skilled migrants into French society. He has also endorsed "positive discrimination" with the end goal of reducing unemployment among the youth.



Nicolas Sarkozy is a man you won't soon forget.